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xx-T9 E-Lectures on Research into Higher Education

Educational research within the area of higher education knows diverse themes and issues and many of them overlap with other areas of educational research (Tight, 2003). The issues in the field of research into higher education are related to topics such as learning arrangements, Retention and dropout of students, professional development of teachers, domain-specific issues, curriculum development, organisational context, assessment, quality assurance and evaluation. Apart from these more generic topics of educational research we can identify specific issues related to higher education research, such as the study success, teaching-research nexus, supervision of student research, and Bologna reform. Different types of research methods are applied and both quantitative and qualitative data collecting methods are used. The purpose of these series of e-lecturers is to providing an overview of the current state of research into higher education international, and specifically in Flanders and the Netherlands.

In this series of e-lectures participants will acquire knowledge about topics and methodologies in research into higher education on four general themes, namely students & learning, faculty & teaching, organization & policy, and quality & evaluation.

Programme

The e-lectures on research into higher education are open online available to any interested individual. The lectures are recorded every month on an announced date and time. This makes it possible for any interested individual to attend the lectures in person. Face-to-face discussion with professors is facilitated.

For all those participants who want to earn an ICO certificate of attendance need to follow the certificate track, in which assignments and additional face-to-face meetings are mandatory.

Certificate track objectives

The course objectives of
the certificate track are that the
participants:

have
acquired basic knowledge of theories, models and research designs that are
used by researchers within the domain of research into higher education;

become
aware that research into higher education covers a wide area of themes and
topics;

acquire
insight in the types of research questions and theories that play a
dominant role when investigating topics in higher education;

acquire
insight in research methodologies used within diverse types of higher
education research;

become
acquainted with the work of researchers and staff members within this area;

can engage
in debate about strengths and weaknesses of typical theories and methodologies
used in higher education research;

learn to
translate research questions, methodologies and findings of research into
higher education to the context of their own research project.

The mandatory elements of the certificate
track are:

Acquaintance with at least eight e-lectures (16 hours)

Reading the assigned literature for these eight e-lectures (16
hours)

Lecture-based assessment for eight e-lectures (16 hours)

Two face-to-face meetings with preparation (12 hours)

Two generic assignments (24 hours)

In total about 84
hours.

E-lectures The programme includes a series of e-lectures about research on four themes in higher education. These e-lectures will be held by national established academics in a particular theme in higher education research. Each meeting will be concluded with an lecture-based assignment about issues discussed in the e-lecture. Certificate track participants need to show their acquaintance with at least eight e-lectures and the related assigned literature by completing the lecture-based assessment at a sufficient level.

Online
learning environment

All materials, such as course manual, literature, assignments, will be
available in an online learning environment. In this environment a online
communication tool will be installed in order to make communication between
participants possible. The coordinators will coordinate and participate in the
online forums.

Face-to-face meetings

Each year at least two face-to-face meetings will be organised in which
certificate track participants can share and discuss topics in research into
higher education. During these face-to-face meetings issues described in
participants first generic assignment
will be discussed in peer-to-peer discussion groups coordinated by an ICO staff
member.

Generic assignments

Certificate track participants are required to complete two assignments
which are not directly related to a single e-lecture, generic assignments. The first generic assignment is aimed at
preparing the participant for the series of e-lectures. Certificate track participants
are requested to prepare this assignment at the start of their attendance. The
second generic assignment is aimed at reflecting on what has been learned
during the series of e-lectures in relation to the participants own research. Certificate
track participants are asked to prepare this assignment before the second face-to-face
meeting, in order to make discussion about the assignments possible during the
face-to-face meetings.

1) As a preparation for the series of
e-lectures participants will be asked to describe in a short essay (approx. 500
words) about an actual problem, issue or question about research into higher
education preferably related to their own research projects. During face-to-face
meeting issues will be discussed with other certificate track participants.

2) Certificate track participants are
requested to write a brief research proposal (approx. 1,000
words) on an issue within one of the four themes discussed during the series of
e-lectures. The topic of this proposal is preferably related to their own research
project. The instructors will provide you with a preliminary research question
if necessary. Participants who submit their proposal to the instructors will
receive feedback. Assessment criteria for this paper will be discussed during face-to-face
meetings.

Face-to-face meetings

The lectures will be recorded once a month.
These lectures are open to any interested individual.

All interested individuals can assign to a
mailing list. This mailing list is used to announce the place and time of the
(recording of the) lectures. The participants are provided with literature in
advance in order to make face-to-face discussion possible during the lectures.

Additional face-to-face meeting for certificate track participants will be
planned in close consultation with the participants.

Assessment

Assessment
of at least eight e-lectures should be completed at a sufficient level;

Active
participation during at least two face-to-face meetings;

Active
participation in the online learning environment and at the online forums
about the e-lectures.

Both generic
assignments should be completed at a sufficient level.

Literature

An online course manual
will be available in which a list of papers will be specified for each
e-lecture.

Registration

Participants may register
for the certificate track by completing the registration form. Participants who
want to register for the certificate track after the deadline is due, are
recommended to contact one of the coordinators. Participants who want to
register for attending the lectures can send an email to the coordinators. You
will be added to a mailing list and will receive all information about the
lectures.

Appendix: List of potential
invited lecturers from Flanders and the Netherlands